Jonathan M. "Jon"
Lovitz (born July 21, 1957) is an American actor and comedian perhaps
best known as a cast member of Saturday Night Live and the voice of
Jay Sherman in The Critic.

Early life

Lovitz was born in Los Angeles, California. His father was a doctor in
Encino, California.[1] His father's parents were immigrants from
Romania who settled in Jacksonville, Florida. His
mother's mother was an immigrant from Hungary. His
mother's father was born in Chicago, but his family were immigrants
from Russia.

He attended Harvard-Westlake School and studied theater at the
University of California at Irvine and graduated in 1979. He studied
acting with Tony Barr at the Film Actors Workshop. He became a member
of The Groundlings comedy troupe where he befriended Phil Hartman.

Career

Saturday Night Live

Lovitz was a cast member of Saturday Night Live from 1985 to 1990. He
later said in an interview for the book Live From New York: An
Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live that his time on SNL was the
most memorable in his career. He went from having no money to being
offered a $500,000 movie contract. He was nominated for an Emmy his
first two years on Saturday Night Live. One of his most notable SNL
characters was "Tommy Flanagan, The Pathological Liar" who used the
old catch phrase, "Yeah! That's the ticket!" Some of his other
recurring characters included Master Thespian, Tonto, Mephistopheles,
Hanukkah Harry, and Michael Dukakis. In a 1986 episode of Saturday
Night Live he played a virgin Trekkie, who was scripted to hang his
head when asked by William Shatner if he had ever kissed a girl.

Voiceover work

Lovitz has lent his voice to several cartoons and films. In the series
The Critic he played the title character of Jay Sherman. On The
Simpsons he played Marge's ex-prom date Artie Ziff, theater director
Llewellyn Sinclair (and his sister, who runs a daycare center) on the
season four episode "A Streetcar Named Marge", Jay Sherman from The
Critic in the Season 6 crossover episode "A Star Is Burns", and
paparazzo Enrico Irritazio in the season eighteen episode "Homerazzi".
He also played Professor Lombardo and Aristotle Amadopolous. He also
was the voice behind the radio, on the Disney movie, "The Brave Little
Toaster"

Movie cameos and television guest appearances

In the late 1990s, Lovitz was "the man who wrote the Yellow Pages", in
a series of commercials and print ads for the American Yellow Pages
industry. He has also appeared for ads for Subway and in a cameo in
the movie Matilda, as Million Dollar Sticky Man.

He also had an uncredited cameo as a rival crooner to Adam Sandler in
the movie The Wedding Singer, and had a small role in another of
Sandler's movies, Little Nicky. He also was a supporting character in
"Mr. Destiny" with James Belushi.

Lovitz has also appeared on Friends twice. He first appeared in the
Season 1 episode "The One with the Stoned Guy" as a restaurateur who
gets stoned on marijuana trip just prior to interviewing Monica Geller
for a job. He reappeared years later in the Season 9 episode "The One
with the Blind Dates", where it is revealed that he lost his
restaurant due to a drug problem.

He also appeared on Seinfeld as Gary Fogel, a man who lies about
having cancer ("The Scofflaw") and later dies in a car accident.

In 1991, Lovitz appeared in the season seven episode of Married With
Children entitled "Kelly Does Hollywood part 2" as sleazy hollywood
producer Mr. Littlehead. In 1998, Lovitz made a dramatic turn when he
appeared in a small but pivotal role in Todd Solondz's film Happiness
as a depressed man who attacks his date for thinking of him as
nothing. His insults set the tone for her character throughout the
film. Lovitz guest-starred twice on Newsradio as two separate
characters before becoming a cast member in the show's final season
(playing a third character).

In 2003, appeared on an episode of Just Shoot Me as a man married to
Nina. He appeared on Two and a Half Men in 2006 as a jingle writer
named Archie and has also had multiple guest appearances on the TV
show Las Vegas.

Broadway theatre

He has appeared on Broadway at the Music Box Theatre in Neil Simon's
play The Dinner Party, taking over the lead role from Henry Winkler.
He sang at Carnegie Hall three times (including Great Performances'
Ira Gershwin at 100: A Celebration at Carnegie Hall) and sang the
national anthem at Dodger Stadium and the U.S. Open.

On October 10, 2001, Lovitz sang a duet (with Robbie Williams) of the
song "Well, Did You Evah" at the Royal Albert Hall in the UK. The
recording can be found on the Swing When You're Winning album.

Stand-up comedy

In 2005, Lovitz entered stand-up comedy for the first time in his
career. He also appeared in the film The Producers as the strict
accounting firm chairman, Mr. Marx. In 2006, he became the
spokesperson in an advertising campaign for the Subway restaurant
chain.

The Jon Lovitz Comedy Club

On November 8, 2007 Jon Lovitz had the grand opening for his new
comedy club "The Jon Lovitz Comedy Club at Aubergine" in the Downtown
Gaslamp District in San Diego, CA. It currently presents one show a
night at 9pm every Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Already, the top
comedians in the country have played and been booked for the club,
such as David Spade, Ralphie May, Carlos Mencia, Dana Carvey, Jo Koy,
Eric Schwartz, Craig Shoemaker, Russell Peters, Kevin Nealon, Dennis
Miller, etc.